Yesterdays ride home was a hot one. Heat I can handle...car drivers who refuse to use their mirrors or turn their heads I cant.

Traffic was very heavy, nose to tail for over 5 kilomteres. All was fine as I was riding past them all until got near a servo just past some lights. This clown, an older clown too, in a Nissan XTrail decided he wanted to turn into the servo...not an issue if he used his mirrors or turned his head, had he done so he would have seen me right next to his car. Luckily I sensed the car was moving over before it got dangerous, and moved myself, but not before I banged on the rear pillar with my fist. The clown just did the hands in the air..whats the matter look. I went off at him verbally...he had all windows up but I think he knew I wasnt happy. Though about stopping at the servo and having a real good go at him, but thought whats the point he wont change.

Rest of the ride was great.

Threw some extra K's into the morning commute today. Was lovely at the start but soon heated up. Legs are stuffed, not much left in them, can only hope the wind is with me on the way home, regardless I will be in the small front chain ring all the way home

Got the horn treatment from the same car as I did on wednesday. There was possibly some misunderstanding involved as when I shoulder checked he was following me in my lane, but his indicator was on to move into the clear lane beside him (at the time I wasn't claiming the lane), so with the road narrowing again at that point to a non-shareable width I moved back to the centre/right wheel track after signalling. But I think he took this as a move to block him so back on the horn again He did make a safe pass after that and tried to give me a lecture through his window but I couldn't hear anything for wind noise. Will have to ask the local station to explain to him I'm allowed to ride in a lane, and thank him for at least not doing the close shave... This is at 6am with a mostly clear road. But I can see how my move could be mis-interpreted. But I was doing nothing wrong on wednesday holding a steady line when he was honking at me from behind.

Then with a bit too much adreneline pumping, made a too optimistic judgement changing to the right lane further up the road. Car in next lane was going faster than estimated from my shoulder check so I didn't leave a safe enough buffer. They didn't need to brake and it worked out fine but think I didn't do that one right

Then took a corner too fast on the bikepath beside the ICB - sand patch in my line so I went wide and had to swerve back rather quickly to avoid a head on with an oncoming cyclist - yelled "crap sorry my fault" and the other rider didn't seem to care cos he said no problems, but I wish I hadn't done that either. Looking at the vid later on, the guy who had been drafting me took the same line and was therefore even closer to the other rider... Got to remember about that sand.

Then just near work saw my boss walking in, and while distracted with thoughts of sneaking up behind and AZ'ing him, made another mistake. Trying to get from footpath where the bike path terminates to right hand lane, a car let me through but I didn't properly check the 2nd lane which just gets "created" just before that point and a car was coming through. All slow though there though, the lights just in front were red, and they didn't need to brake, but again, not good riding from me.

jasonc wrote:ride home yesterday arvo was good. put a little bit of effort in. felt good.concerning when you hear on the radio "truck and bike crash on mount glorious rd mount glorious". hope all involved are ok.

jasonc wrote:ride home yesterday arvo was good. put a little bit of effort in. felt good.concerning when you hear on the radio "truck and bike crash on mount glorious rd mount glorious". hope all involved are ok.

Nowhere near as challenging as yesterday. But it sure was cold at times. A squall came in at a little after 7 and just in time to punish me at the Narrows so I am certainly glad that I chose to pack the gloves this morning.

The great news is that the weekend should be good for when I take some mates around Freo to try out and show off their skills and swap a few tricks and stuff. So if you see a group of unicyclists out that way, stop for a chat and make them feel part of the cycling community.

Yes, Melbourne did have a stinker yesterday. It was 38°C when I rode home, then I found the house I'm renting (which has no insulation) was 35°C inside . I still wouldn't choose to commute by any other mode, though: fine or hail, cold or hot, it beats other modes any day .

find_bruce wrote:do you think it improves your riding ? In my case it is more about recognising my mistakes as I make them again.

Haha A bit of both. Some mistakes I don't make twice but others are just misjudgements and most people do that occasionally - I think something will be fine but turns out to be closer than I calculated. eg. While my lane change didn't obstruct anybody (although it wasn't far off at all), it probably would have looked marginal to anybody watching so that annoys me as I'm trying to set an example. So next time... I have to leave an even larger buffer in case I'm wrong again... and be more willing to turn left instead and effectively make it a hook turn. Its annoying to have to do this at 45-50kmh (its downhill) but now I'm sounding like some motorists...

Don't get me wrong, I don't consider myself good at riding in traffic - if you throw a new route at me I would probably make mistakes the first few times. My commute isn't so bad because I've done it so many times and seen most of the things that can happen... Yet I still can't get it right like today.

I am also curious as to whether being aware that you make mistakes means you are better prepared for other drivers & riders when they stuff up.

On the driver side of things definitely, for riders not so much as its less predictable and I don't ride around other cyclists much so I'm probably just as unpredictable. Not saying it won't happen because not everything is predictable and sometimes you just aren't paying enough attention to see what silly thing might happen next. I'm doing everything to be as visible as possible, and in ideal situations I'll ride as if I've been seen (but have an escape plan), but where sight lines aren't good I'll be pretty defensive. It won't always work, it just has so far...

Once you are aware of the problems around doorings, driveways, left hooks, right hooks, what commonly happens at roundabouts, have experienced a few SMIDSY and SMIDGAFs, and a few other things, you're somewhat prepared for 80% of the external things that can go wrong.

My biggest danger on my route is left hooks... because of that I claim the lane where necessary, which transfers most of the danger to someone driving over the top of me which is even worse but less likely to happen.

...well it had to be this way I guess, even the commute home sucked...

Totally left hooked. Car hadn't even gotten clear of me when it started in for the corner. Managed to slow enough to avoid a collision while simultaneously emptying half a bottle of AZ goodness. Car stopped and I went through shouting "what are you doing??!!".

Shame really as on this backstreet in recent months I've had a heap of drivers *not* left hook me in that exact spot.

Rode to the Christmas Market at the kids' school after work on Friday, then home via my morning route, so the ride ended up a little shorter than normal for the return leg.Cool conditions and a few drops of rain for the ride into the Melbourne CBD this morning, quite pleasant overall.

Low dark clouds, roads were wet, and a fair bit of fog around too...but I never got rained on which was a huge surprise. Really thought I was going to get dumped on due to the way the weather was looking.

Was an uneventful ride for myself, thought about doing extra k's this morning but with the wet roads decided against it.

Felt sorry for the person who put his car on its roof this morning tho....given the location I am still wondering how he did it.

A brilliant ride in - a little strong from the east but after recent storms it was a breeze. A pity that I came a cropper droppingn over the curb with an overloaded backpack. Oh well, skin repairs in time.

I am off to an evening function straight from work which will involve riding home late. I hope the weather stays a little warm for me tonight.

Back to commuting reality with a thump this morning. I’ve been on leave for a couple of weeks where I only managed a couple of rides, but they were lovely, scenic jaunts with minimal traffic. Walked into the garage at 6:30 this morning to discover a flat tyre. Wondered about that valve last night when I was getting the bike ready. Seems it really was faulty. Didn’t take long to change, but it meant I was later than normal and into the heavier traffic. Shaved by a four wheel drive who cut into my lane in his desperation to get to the red light before me, and then had a gent exercising his horn as he followed me up a short rise to a roundabout. Still, it was warm and sunny and the rest of the ride was very pleasant, although after the break my legs did object for a while at being asked to work so early in the morning..

Most successful commute inbound today. Felt strong and comfortable pushing 40kph on the flat. Really need to look at getting a proper fit with the feet looked after properly, because the extra power I get some days is just stupid.